Nigel Benn

Nigel Benn
Data
Birth Name	Nigel Benn
Weight class	Middleweight, super middleweight
nationality	British
birthday	January 22, 1964
place of birth	London
style	Left delivery
size	1.76 m
Combat Statistics
Struggles	48
Victories	42
Knockout victories	35
Defeats	5
draw	1

Nigel Benn (born January 22, 1964 in Ilford , London , England ) is a former British boxer who became known by his fighting name "The Dark Destroyer" . He was world champion of the WBO in middleweight, as well as world champion of the WBC in super middleweight.

Career

He started his career as a successful amateur boxer . His record is 41 wins with just one defeat. He suffered this against the four-time English champion and Olympic participant from 1984, Rod Douglas. In 1986 he was, among other things, with victories against Mark Edwards and Johnny Melfah, English middleweight champion.

In January 1987 he started his professional career and won his first 22 fights in a row by knockout , eleven of them in the first round. He beat several national champions and title holders, five boxers even suffered their first defeat against him. On April 20, 1988, he won the Commonwealth Middleweight Championship and successfully defended it three times.

On May 21, 1989, he suffered the first defeat of his professional career when, after a spectacular fight, he was defeated by three-time world championship challenger Michael Watson by technical knockout in the 6th round. In his next three fights, all of which he was able to win, he also won on points for the first time. On April 29, 1990 he boxed in Atlantic City for the world title of the WBO middleweight division against the American Doug DeWitt (32 (wins) -6 (losses) -4 (draws)). Benn managed to knock down in the 3rd round, in round 8 DeWitt had to hit the ground three times and lost to a technical knockout.

On August 18, he defended his title in Las Vegas against the American Iran Barkley (25-6-0), former WBC world champion in the middleweight division and later WBA and IBF world champion in super middle and light heavyweight division. Barkley was considered a serious opponent, despite his poor match record, who caused a sensation with knockout wins against Thomas Hearns (45-2-0) and Darrin Van Horn (47-2-0). Benn won the fight in the first round by tKo, after Barkley went down three times and was taken out of the fight by the referee due to his inferiority.

On November 18, 1990 it came in Birmingham for the third title defense against his undefeated compatriot Chris Eubank (24-0-0). Benn landed several impact hits and had Eubank on the ground in the 8th round, but was taken out of the fight by the referee in round 9 after he had to accept heavy head hits himself. For Benn this defeat weighed particularly heavily, as there had been enmity between the two boxers in the run-up to the fight.

Benn then rose to the super middleweight division, beating six potential World Cup challengers, including the eventual, two-time WBC world champion Thulani Malinga from South Africa.

Due to his previous achievements, he got the chance to win the WBC world title against the Italian title holder Mauro Galvano (21-1-2) on October 3, 1992 in Marino, Italy . Benn won the fight by tKo in the 4th round after Galvano was taken out of the fight due to cut injuries. In the following months he defended the title in a rematch unanimously against Mauro Galvano, and by knockout against Nicky Piper (16-1-1) and Lou Gent (22-8-2).

On October 9, 1993 there was a rematch in Manchester with the still undefeated Chris Eubank, who had also risen to the super middleweight division and held the WBO world title. This time the fight ended in a draw, so both boxers kept their titles. Benn then defended his title unanimously on points against the undefeated, future European champion Henry Wharton, and also unanimously on points against the South American champion and four-time World Cup challenger Juan Carlos Giménez Ferreyra.

On February 25, 1995 he met in his 7th title defense in London on the former WBO and WBC world middleweight champion, Gerald McClellan from the USA, who played his first fight in the super middleweight against Benn. McClellan had won 31 of his 33 professional fights to date, 29 of which by knockout, 20 of which were already in the 1st round. The fight went down as one of the most spectacular and toughest duels in boxing history.

McClellan was already looking for the knockout at the beginning of the fight and drove Benn into the ropes with non-stop combinations of blows. In the first 40 seconds of the fight, Benn flew out of the ring with seven consecutive head and body hits, but was able to step back into it a second before he would have been counted. In the following rounds, the two boxers fought a sustained exchange of blows, with both coming to the brink of precipitation several times. In lap 8 Benn went down again and was counted, but was able to continue boxing again. On lap 9, Benn lost his balance after a failed right and hit McClellan's forehead with his head. On lap 10, McClellan knelt for a few seconds without being hit, but got back on his feet. But a short time later he knelt down again and let the referee count him. Due to breathing problems, he had already pushed his mouthguard forward several times between his teeth and was blinking incessantly, which the referee did not seem to notice. McClellan then collapsed in his corner and was taken to the hospital, where emergency surgery had to remove a blood clot from his brain.

Benn also collapsed in his cabin and was admitted to the same hospital. McClellan was in a coma for eleven days, suffered two strokes and one heart attack. He is almost blind, 80% deaf and dependent on his wheelchair and the care of his family. He also suffers from massive memory gaps. Benn apologized for the derogatory remarks he made in the ring immediately after his victory over his opponent and paid a large part of his treatment costs. The fate of McClellan seemed to have clearly affected him.

Although he defended his title five months later by tKo in round 8 against the later WBC world champion Vincenzo Nardiello and on September 2, 1995 by tKo in round 7 against Danny Perez, but then lost three fights in a row and ended his career. He suffered two of these defeats by knockout against the Irish Steve Collins , the third on points against Thulani Malinga, whom he had defeated in 1992.

In 2002 he took part in the first season of the British television show I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! part.

Private

Benn is the son of immigrants from Barbados . One of his cousins ​​is former soccer player Paul Ince .

He currently lives in Australia with his family and serves as a priest. He describes himself as a born again Christian .

In 2007 he organized a fundraising event for McClellan in London, where the two boxers met for the first time in 12 years. The event, which was attended by numerous boxers and other well-known personalities, raised over $ 200,000 in donations.

predecessor	Office	successor
Doug DeWitt	World Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBO ) April 29, 1990 - November 18, 1990	Chris Eubank

predecessor	Office	successor
Mauro Galvano	Super Middleweight Boxing Champion ( WBC ) October 3, 1992 - March 2, 1996	Thulani Malinga

Web links

• Nigel Benn in the BoxRec database

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1]